Kickstarted Pillars of Eternity saved Obsidian from closure

Obsidian Entertainment was on the brink of closure before its crowdfunded RPG Pillars of Eternity gave the studio new hope.

The revelation was made in the first entry in a new video documentary series, Road to Eternity, with the studio even admitting that a date for closure had been penned in should it have failed to secure a new game deal.

Back in 2012, with South Park: The Stick of Truth facing yet more delays, the developer was hard at work on another title for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Unfortunately, the project was cancelled.

"With these larger budgets, when you crash, you crash hard," said project director Josh Sawyer. "And for a company the size of Obsidian to have a project like that cancelled, it can have a big impact financially."

Obsidian’s much-awaited sequel to 2015’s Pillars of Eternity is launching on April 3rd. We sit down with design director Josh Sawyer to discuss Deadfire’s crowdfunding, community feedback, the new ship features and the potential to iterate on the IP